How many copies of Halo games do you own? If you take a look around, the numbers might actually surprise you. From its first release of Halo Combat Evolved for the original Xbox to the upcoming release of Halo 4 on the Xbox 360, the numbers you own might actually surprise you.

Microsoft is getting ready to release the latest entry in the Halo franchise known as Halo 4 and has paused to reflect on this; and what a better way to do it than with numbers. In this case, the number is 46. 46 million is the number of Halo copies of the different games in the franchise sold worldwide. The 46 million translate into almost $3 billion (with a “B”) in sales dollars.

When Halo: Reach was released, developer Bungee raked in over $200 million in sales in the US and Europe within the first 24 hours, and word is that Microsoft is expecting Halo 4 to do even better.

Let us leave you with one more fun fact. Halo has seen more than five billion hours of game play that have been logged on Xbox Live. Those are some impressive numbers, and Microsoft is expecting Halo 4 to start breaking records when it arrives early next month.

With Apple already facing charges that it stole the name iPad from a Chinese business, it now seems to have angered writers by stealing their books.

A group of 22 Chinese authors have filed a claim against U.S. technology group Apple, claiming that its App Store flogs unlicensed copies of their books. According to the Chinese official media, the Writers Rights Alliance petitioned Apple last year to stop electronic distribution of the writers' books and had earlier persuaded Baidu, China's largest search engine, to stop publishing their material on its Baidu Library product.

Nothing happened so the writers want Apple to write a cheque for $8 million saying it was selling pirated versions of 95 books via its online store. Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu said that as an IP holder Apple understood the importance of protecting intellectual property, and when we receive complaints we respond promptly and appropriately.

Electronic Arts is pretty happy with the sales of NHL 12. According to EA, NHL has apparently broken the record for first week sales globally. The game sold 451,000 copies at retail during the first week of release, which equals a 19 percent jump over last year.

It also seems that this year’s edition of the game has seen a 17 percent increase in online games during the first week over last year. NHL 12 had served up over 6.9 million online games during the first week of release.

While this news might not be stellar numbers when you compare to other recent high profile titles that have been released recently, but for the NHL franchise these numbers are big and are a sign that the franchise is growing and adding new players which is good news for EA.

Baidu, which is known as the Chinese Google has been showing off a mobile operating system and mobile application platform. Named Baidu Yi, the software will enable third-party application developers to create apps such as games, maps and other tools that they can distribute in an App store.

It is fairly clear that Baidu Yi is modeled on Google's Android mobile operating system. The company also launched its new homepage which will add four features, including social networking functions.

Baidu CEO Robin Li was quoted as saying the new homepage could have a negative impact on its revenue by requiring users to register a Baidu account, reducing traffic on the site. The new homepage, with more links and content, could also affect loading speed.

Sony is going to get aggressive on piracy, as the company has announced that they will be swinging the ban hammer on software pirates on the PlayStation 3 for those found running pirated copies of PS3 software; this will result in their receiving a permanent ban from the PlayStation Network.

The tough talk in the official statement cites a number of terms of the System Software License Agreement, as well as the Terms of Services and User Agreement. Of course, many (even most of us) don’t pay very close attention to the wording of these licensing agreements, but Sony is combining this with the Community Code of Conduct to make sure that users know that the company means business.

Sony warns, “Consumers must immediately cease use and remove all circumvention devices and delete all unauthorized or pirated software from their PlayStation 3 systems.” It isn’t yet clear how long Sony is giving players to comply, but from the whispers that we are hearing it will not be long.

Sony has apparently found a way to determine which users are using circumvention devices and pirated software. It is expected that Sony will deliver a new firmware update that will assist in this process. It is expected that once the new firmware is deployed, they will be able to poll the PlayStation 3 system to look for circumvention devices and pirated software.

In the meantime, Sony continues to go the legal route and gather additional evidence. Sony has already been granted permission to seize GeoHot’s hardware used to crack the PlayStation 3 and to obtain the root key from the system. Sony also continues to ask the courts for subpoenas to go after those on the Internet that are publishing the crack; but sources that we have spoken with expect Sony’s effects to yield very little results over the long haul, as most believe that the cat is out of the bag, so to speak.

Electronic Arts was said to be a little worried about the sales numbers for Medal of Honor that are just now starting to tumble in. The state of worry is due to the “all over the place” review scores that the newly released Medal of Honor received. The initial sales numbers are in and EA can now breathe a little easier.

According to the reports that we are hearing, the new Medal of Honor has had a good first week run, with the title selling over 1.7+ million copies on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. This means that the title is off to a solid start and it looks to be able to achieve the sales goal of four million units. (As we told you previously, it was revealed that in order for the game to see a sequel, the title would have to sell close to four million copies across the platforms.)

To celebrate the excellent first week of sales, news comes from EA that the first DLC pack for Medal of Honor will be free. The download pack, which will be called “Clean Sweep,” will add the new Clean Sweep game play mode in multiplayer as well as two new maps. Players will be able to download it on November 2nd when it is set to arrive.

Of course, in order to get the DLC content you must have purchased the game “new”; those that purchased it used will be forced to buy the DLC content if they want it.

As we have suspected previously, publisher Take-Two Interactive is likely to be the next publisher to follow the lead of Electronic Arts and THQ by dealing with the used market space. The news didn’t actually reveal exactly what strategy Take-Two will follow, but it is likely that they will use a code/voucher system to activate additional game features for those that purchase new copies of a title, while those who buy used copies will have to buy a DLC unlock online to access the additional features.

Speaking at the recent Think Equity conference, the CEO of Take-Two, Ben Feder, held his cards close and would not reveal any specifics on how or when the move would take place. It stands to reason that it could be done with the upcoming titles that Take-Two has on the slate for the remainder of this year, but sources suggest that it could be early next year before the company puts this move into action.

Although they have admitted evaluating it, both Ubisoft and Atari are expected to move in this direction, as well. It seems that despite the outcry from used game buyers over losing online play, it has not yet been severe enough to motivate publishers to rethink their strategy going forward.

With over 2 million copies of F1 2010 having been shipped to retailers, Codemasters is in the middle of its biggest launch ever for a single title. The launch needs to have good sales, as the licensing rights were not cheap. Beyond the numbers, the launch does seem to indicate that Codemasters might be turning the corner.

The early buzz on F1 2010 is good, and the steady stream of reviews have led to a metacritic rating of 86, which does seem to confirm that the game is good. Of course, strong reviews only help to sell games, and the company hopes that it will do well in some of the non-traditional F1 markets (such as the U.S.) where F1 isn’t necessarily as popular.